So does size doesn't matter or is what matters is if you can use it?

[ithoriel]

If the gods themselves don't work to a consistent scale I'm darned if I see why I should! 

[jon_1066]

It’s funny with modelling though.  What is correct in real life can look odd in a model.

Eg telegraph poles will often have a lean in real life.  If you put that in a model though it will look odd and make it stand out as a mistake.

[Cat]

If the gods themselves don't work to a consistent scale I'm darned if I see why I should! 

But yet their pistols and night sticks are the same size.
~ , ~

[ithoriel]

But yet their pistols and night sticks are the same size.
~ , ~

Since most of what I'm working on at the moment is sci-fi ....
..... in the grim darkness of the far future, 3D printing lets you produce weapons and equipment sized to be comfortable for the user 

  And that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it! 

[Grumpy Gnome]

Since most of what I'm working on at the moment is sci-fi ....
..... in the grim darkness of the far future, 3D printing lets you produce weapons and equipment sized to be comfortable for the user 

  And that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it! 

Clever idea.

[Kikuchiyo]

Figure size is less of an issue than gear size for me

[Daeothar]

What's this? Bring-your-daughter-to-work day? 

What I dislike most is the difference between heroic and realistically scaled/styled miniatures. Lengths are not an issue; as demonstrated, real people have differing heights, so that's just fine. I also like both styles of sculpting, but I don't like to see some hamfisted, bulky  heroic mini next to daintily delicate realistic miniatures with tiny hands. Same goes for the heads, legs and torso's, obviously, but the hands are a bit of a pet peeve of mine.

And weapons having the same bulk over all of the miniatures in a unit would be very nice too. I actually put aside some plastic Warlord minis when I tested them next to a bunch of previously painted Artizan ones; the rifles looked like toothpicks compared to their metal counterparts! So I made the decision to buy some more Artizan instead, even though the plastics were admittedly nicer. They just did not fit the aesthetic. The hand issue played its role here as well of course...


+++EDIT+++ I did not mention, but I wholy agree with the statement about resizing and rescaling not being the same.

I painted a set of 3D-printed Dungeons and Dragons heroes (from the cartoon) last year, and I really wanted to add the series bad guy to go with them. I found an STL of him that was actually a statuette, at about 20cm, but that was eaily shrunk down in my slicer, right?

Right. But the proportions stayed exactly the same, so when printed at approximately 28mm, he was outright delicate! His hands were tiny and his wings virtually transparent!

Long story short; I did not paint him because he did not match up with the heroes I had done up before. I had resized, but not rescaled him...

[Michi]

Oh, I like that picture! 

What I dislike most is the difference between heroic and realistically scaled/styled miniatures. Lengths are not an issue; as demonstrated, real people have differing heights, so that's just fine. I also like both styles of sculpting, but I don't like to see some hamfisted, bulky  heroic mini next to daintily delicate realistic miniatures with tiny hands. Same goes for the heads, legs and torso's, obviously, but the hands are a bit of a pet peeve of mine.

Well, the proportions of those two real persons in the picture above are according to their lengths by the way, it's not just different lenghts, I'd say. 
Look at the heads' diameters and the thickness of their limbs...

[Daeothar]

Agreed; the proportions are, well, in proportion, and I have no issue with that.

My peeve is more with the difference between sculpting styles not matching. Add a realistically proportioned mini to a bunch of heroically sculpted ones and you'll immediately perceive that one as weedy and tiny, regardless of its height.

Since I mentioned Artizan, here's a comparisson between one of their metal minis next to a Warlord plastic mini depicting exactly the same; a Fallschirmjäger with Kar.98 in 28mm.

Granted; there are a lot of better examples out there of this same difference (put a metal GW WHFB Brettonian archer next to a plastic Perry WotR archer for instance). In the pictures it's not all that bad to be honest and IRL it is way more visible , but this is the example I went with.

The difference is most apparent in (yes) the hands, the rifle and the overall bulkiness of the fatigues. And this is a difference I'd rather not see within the same unit.

I bought a bunch of extra Fallschirmjäger during May '40's kickstarter of them (all metal), and here too, the difference was quite noticeable, though less pronounced as between the metal and plastic minis I've shown here.

It's a style thing, not a size thing per se, and even though I'll happily use both styles, I'd rather not mix and match them...

[Michi]

It's a style thing, not a size thing per se, and even though I'll happily use both styles, I'd rather not mix and match them...

I see what you mean and you're right on that. I don't care in my games anyway... 

I never care much about the height or proportions as long as the sculpt is pleasing my eye. I mix and use every production method and material of miniatures (once painted you'll never see the difference) together.

[nozza_uk]

My peeve is more with the difference between sculpting styles not matching.

The difference is most apparent in (yes) the hands, the rifle and the overall bulkiness of the fatigues. And this is a difference I'd rather not see within the same unit.

That sums up the problem for me. In both pictures, the figures in the middle would work together, it's just the oversized weapons that ruins the effect for me.





With the last picture, the figures on the left, in the middle and the right are from the same range.

[v_lazy_dragon]

Just one to throw in on the 'equipment should be the same size' point (and admittedly this doesn't carry into standardized military weapons), but there can be quite a lot of size variation in what is, ostensible, the same fire-arm too...

[Daeothar]

Oh, absolutely true, that. And I actually wouldn't mind too much in a skirmish game where everyone is individually equiped, but not in units made up of uniformly equiped soldiers.

Also, as a caveat to the above, there are limits to the range that I find acceptable. I mean; compare an OOP Necromunda stubgun (metal, on that dedicated weapons sprue) with a Webley revolver on a plastic Warlord WW2 Brits sprue. One looks like a child's BB-gun and the other like a hand held mortar (you decide which is which ), while they're basically the same revolver...

[eilif]

Oh, absolutely true, that. And I actually wouldn't mind too much in a skirmish game where everyone is individually equiped, but not in units made up of uniformly equiped soldiers.

Also, as a caveat to the above, there are limits to the range that I find acceptable. I mean; compare an OOP Necromunda stubgun (metal, on that dedicated weapons sprue) with a Webley revolver on a plastic Warlord WW2 Brits sprue. One looks like a child's BB-gun and the other like a hand held mortar (you decide which is which ), while they're basically the same revolver...

That's true, but you're likely to never have reason to mix those figures and parts.  GW gaming has always been very heroic (even RT/Necro/Confrontation) it's just a matter of how-very-heroic.

As far as bulk (setting asside height for a minute) Historical stuff on the other hand is still in a constant 4 way tug of war between:
-older chunky styles of metal figures
-newer slightly more refined metal figures
-plastic figures like warlord that lean towards a compromise with metal figures
-plastic figures leaning toward perfect realism which is really only compatible with similar plastic kits

Personally I'm not too picky. I just try to keep things consistent within the same squad/platoon, but I'll include different makes/styles in the same army.